The Naples Players opened its 2023-2024 season on Wednesday at the Community School of Naples, a venue necessitated because the Sugden Theatre is currently in the middle of a $20 million renovation. But TNP has more than made up for the inconvenience to its regular patrons with a powerhouse production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. This show provides a veritable feast for the ears, eyes and soul.
Music Director Charles Fornara puts the audience on notice of that TNP’s production of Hunchback is a musical for the ages at the 42 second mark of Act 1 with an awe-inspiring intro to “The Bells of Notre Dame.” This song, which bears similarity to Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “The Bells,” sets the tone for the entire story and is reprised at the end of the musical.
Thanks to Fornara’s 14-piece orchestra and 16-person choir, both located on stage for the entire performance, Alan Menken’s sweeping score cascades from “The Top of the World” and engulfs the audience in a tsunami of topsy turvy sound, vibrato and raw emotion.
Sometimes the sentiment is dangerous and destructive, as in “Hellfire,” sung by Austin Gardner, who makes his Southwest Florida debut in the role of Archdeacon Claude Frollo. In other instances, the emotion is wistful and impossibly hopeful, as in this tearful duet between Esmeralda and Captain of the Guard, Phoebus.
All of Hunchback’s musicality takes place against the backdrop of Mike Santos and Jason Wagaman’s soaring set. From its central stained glass window to the dark oak ornamentation of the choir’s rectilinear bays, the stage replicates Notre Dame’s imposing French Gothic sanctuary. Audiences enter the theater and take their seats with the same hushed reverence elicited by actual European cathedrals.
And then there’s Josh Winchester’s period costumes, particularly the vibrant garb in which he attires the Romani. Like the set and Dawn Albrecht Fornara’s deft direction, they transport the audience to another time.
But for the inhabitants of Paris in 1482, those times were far from halcyon. To the contrary, they were fraught with danger and deception, and no one in this story is more at risk than the Romani street dancer Esmeralda, who triggers Archdeacon Frollo’s wrath by spurning his unwelcome advances and offer of sanctuary.
Frollo would burn down Paris to exact revenge on Esmeralda. But Quasimodo turns Esmeralda’s inability to reciprocate his feelings inward, chastising his alter ego, namely the gargoyles he dwells among, for encouraging him to dream of love and acceptance.
Victor Hugo’s Hunchback is often lumped together with Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Robert Louis Stevenson’s Jekyll & Hyde and Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. But, is Quasimodo the monster in this story?
The parallels between Archdeacon Frollo and rulers from Napoleon to Hitler to the modern day autocrats who scapegoat the marginalized in order to gain and hold on to power are as obvious as they are chilling. And it is this dose of reality that demands your attendance.
Everything about TNP’s production of Hunchback of Notre Dame shouts quality and professionalism. So if you can still find a ticket, go see this show.
Yay, for the Bells of Notre Dame toll for thee. Go here for play dates, times and a full cast list.
MORE INFORMATION:
- The musical begins as the bells of Notre Dame sound through the famed cathedral in fifteenth-century Paris. Quasimodo, the deformed bell-ringer who longs to be “Out There,” observes all of Paris reveling in the Feast of Fools. Held captive by his devious caretaker, the archdeacon Dom Claude Frollo, he escapes for the day and joins the boisterous crowd, only to be treated cruelly by all but the beautiful Romani woman, Esmeralda, a compassionate gypsy who protects him from the angry mob. Quasimodo isn’t the only one captivated by Esmeralda’s free spirit. So are Dom Claude Frollo and the new captain of the guard, Phoebus de Martin. Both are infatuated by the beautiful girl, but Frollo’s lust turns lethal and only Quasimodo has a chance of saving Esmeralda from Frollo’s seething anger.
- Early in Act 1 (Scene 2), Quasimodo slips out of the cathedral to attend the Feast of Fools. The Naples Players recounts in its virtual Playbill that “the Feast of Fools (Fete des fous) was a popular medieval festival that took place in Paris and other cities in France … typically … during the Christmas season on or around January 1.” During the Feast of Fools, people mocked the traditional practices of church and society, dressing in flamboyant costumes, often imitating high-ranking church officials and conducting mock religious ceremonies complete with humorous antics. Not surprisingly, the church at this time condemned the Feast of Fools because of its irreverence, calling it sacrilegious.
- The Feast of Fools was a precursor of Mardi Gras.
- A commoner was typically crowned the “Lord of Misrule” or “King of Fools” during the height of the festivities. In Hunchback, Quasimodo is given this distinction only to be attacked by the revelers once they realize his mask is actually his disfigured face.
- Victor Hugo set his story in 1482 Paris. The construction of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame began roughly 300 years earlier, in 1163. It took nearly 200 years to complete. While various modifications were made almost from the start, it was the dominant structure in all of Paris at the time of the events described in The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
- By 1831, Notre Dame had fallen into such a state of disrepair that officials actually considered condemning the cathedral and tearing it down. A fan of French Gothic architecture, Hugo wrote The Hunchback of Notre Dame as a loving tribute to the decaying cathedral. His book became so popular among the French public that it stimulated a 25-year restoration project.
- As the world witnessed in real time, an electrical short circuit sparked a blaze that threatened to burn the 850-year-old cathedral to the ground on April 15, 2019. Fortunately, a protocol for just such an event had been prepared in advance and helped guide firefighters to identify which works of art to rescue and in what order.
- Restoration of the cathedral is due to be completed in 2024, with a Te Deum planned for April 14 of that year, with Notre Dame being opened once more to visitors in December of 2024.
Tom Hall/WGCUJoseph Bryne in the role of Quasimodo and Austin Gardner as Frollo. - Hunchback’s lush, emotionally rich score features a trove of cherished songs from the somber opening tome, The Bells of Notre Dame, to Disney classics that include “Out There,” “God Help the Outcasts,” and “Hellfire,” and many new songs and dance numbers.
- Joseph C. Bryne plays Quasimodo. His appearance in the role is more than fortuitous. He visited Paris in 2018 and toured the historic cathedral, experiencing a sense of worldly love and renewal. Those emotions inform his portrayal of the lonely, kind-hearted bell-ringer who is seen by his uncle, Archdeacon Claude Frollo, and the outside world as a monster due to his physical deformities. Go here for more on Joseph Bryne.
- Jamielynn Bucci stars in the role of the beautiful Romani street dancer named Esmeralda. Drawing from the irrepressible spirit of her character, Bucci says that the musical’s timeless storyline reminds us that “we are strongest when we embrace our differences with compassion, lead with kindness and stand up for what is right.” Not surprisingly, she infuses her character with warmth, caring and sensitivity but a verve and rebelliousness stronger than the steel of Phoebus’ blade. Go here for more on Jamielynn Bucci.
- Austin L. Gardner makes his Naples Players debut in the role of Archdeacon Dom Claude Frollo. A religious zealot, Frollo uses his political office to wage war on the Romani, a Dionysian band of nomads that he and the people of Paris associate with the supernatural, witchcraft and the racist/xenophobic trope of kidnapping Parisian children to sacrifice in Wiccan rituals. That notwithstanding, Frollo finds himself inexplicably attracted to the Romani street dancer Esmeralda. With her, he is driven not by hatred or religiosity but by lust. But his unrestrained desire morphs into seething anger and self-righteous revenge when she rejects his advances and offer to spare her life. Throughout the story, Frollo tries to convince the King, the people of Paris, Quasimodo and even himself that his murderous acts of violence and genocide justified as God’s will. Gardner handles this wide range of motives, intentions and emotions with amazing deftness, creating such a menacing on-stage villain … or monster … that the audience doesn’t know whether to boo or applaud him at the end of the show.
- The show is being staged at Community School of Naples, which is home to TheatreZone. “To have the opportunity to see a production of this incredibly grand spectacle of a show in a space as intimate as TheatreZone is a unique experience.” says Music Director Charles Fornara, “[Director] Dawn Lebrecht Fornara’s thoughtful staging, great choreography, and brilliant storytelling is a mere few feet away from every seat."
- Both general public and season tickets are on sale for $39 – $49 at the TNP Box Office. Those interested can visit NaplesPlayers.org anytime or call the TNP Box Office at (239) 263-7990.
To read more stories about the arts in Southwest Florida visit Tom Hall's website: SWFL Art in the News.
Spotlight on the Arts for WGCU is funded in part by Naomi Bloom, Jay & Toshiko Tompkins, and Julie & Phil Wade.